Compensating device



Au 13, 1929. H. EWING E AL COMPENSATING DEVICE.

Filed July 23, 192.7

HIIHH W rm. w w mf Wag WEMAM f mww c w m E m/ Patented Aug. 13, 1929.

unirsn .S'tA'tES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY EWING, OF SPONDON, NEAR DERBY, AND CHARLES FIELD. RYLEY, DECEASED, LATE 0F SPONDOIT, NEAR DERBY, ENGLAND, BY ELSIE MARY RYLEY, ADMINIS- TRACER-IX, OF BORROEVASH, ENGLAND, ASSIGNORS T0 CELANESE CORPORATION OF AMERICA, OF YORK, N. 21, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

COMEENSATING DEVICE.

Application filed July 23, 1927, Serial No. 207,988, and in Great Britain July 31, 1926.

The invention relates to an improved tension compensating device for use in branches of textile industries in which threads are required to be fed or drawn oil at a substantially constant tension, such for instance as winding, twisting, doubling, and especially mechanical. knitting.

The device tinds particularly useful application in winding threads from one form to another, and in the drawingoil of threads from wound bobbins or other wound forms in the machine knitting of articles or fabrics, such as stockings, stockingette, etc. In machine knitting, the compensating device may be used with especial advantage, as great regularity of stitch can be obtained thereby with consequent improvement in the fabric or article produced.

A compensating device according to the invention will automatically level up or compensate for any gradual, temporary, or accidental variations in tension, for instance such as arise from irregularities in the original winding of a bobbin, etc. from which the thread is beingdrawn off or wound oil, or from variations in the mechanism controlling the winding of a thread or the drawing off of a thread.

A compensating device according to the present invention comprises an arm, for instance a wire, rod, disc or like member, formed with or carrying an eye, ring, or equivalent thread guide, and hinged or pivoted at a point below the line joining. two fixed eyes, rings or equivalent thread guides, disposed respectively on the feed side and thedelivery side of the swinging thread guide i. e. the thread guide carried by the hinged or pivoted arm. The word fixed is here used for the sake of convenience in a special sense to be hereinafter explained. The two fixed thread guides may be formed as integral parts of the compensating device or may form part of an existing machine or mechanism. For convenience, the fixed thread guide on the feed side of the device will be hereinafter referred to as guide A, the swinging thread guide i. e. the

guide 011 the hinged or pivoted arm, as guide B, and the fixed thread guide on the delivery side of the device as guide C.

As explained above, the swinging arm is lunged or pivoted at a point belowthe line ]OlI1ll1g guide A to guide C, and preferably the length of the arm and the disposition of the parts are such that when the arm is vertical, guide B is not above the line joining guide A to guide C.

The thread guides will usually be in the form of eyes or rings, but they may be in the form of U-shaped guides or small, grooved pulley wheels or other equivalent members.

The method of working of the device is as follows: The travelling thread passes successively through or partly round guide A, through or under guide B and through partly round guide (I in the order given. Any decrease or increase which occurs during working in the tension of the thread on the feed side results respectively in a lowering or raising of the hinged or pivoted arm with a consequent compensation in the tension on the delivery side, brought about by a two-fold action, namely (1) the lowering of the arm throws an additional amount of the Weight of the arm on to thetravelling thread and makes it deviate more from the direct path joining guide A to guide C, and (2) as the arm falls, the inclination of the thread between guides A and B relatively to the horizontal .increases, thereby increasing the friction between the surfaces of contact of the guides A and B and the travelling thread. These actions are of course reversed as the arm rises under the effect of increased tension on the feed side.

In the description above, guides A and C have been termed fixed guides, but it is to be understood that either or both may be capable of movement consistent with the re quirements of the work being done, provided however that the hinge or pivot of the swinging arm is always below the line joining guide A to guide C whatever their positions. Thus for example guide C may be given a horizontal traversing movement at right angles to the general direction of the thread.

It has been found advantageous in some cases, notably in the machine knitting of stockings, stockingette and the like, to lead the thread to guide A at a considerable angle to the horizontal and with this purpose a fourth thread guide D may be positioned below or substantially below guide A.

The tension onthe delivery side of the device may obviously be varied to any desired value, by increasing or decreasing the weight of guide B and/or of its hinged or pivoted carrying arm, or by varyingtheposition of the centre of gravity of the arm and guide B as awhole. Thus for example the hinged or pivoted arm may carry a sl ding weight, which may be set at any point along the length of the arm.

The accompanying drawings illustrate by way of example one form of tension compensator device according to the invention.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the compensating device and Figure 2 is a perspective view of same.

Referring to the drawings the tension compensating device illustrated comprises a vrect-angularly arched frame whereof the vertical limb l on the feed side, the horizontal member 2 forming the top of the arch, and the upper portion 3- of the vertical limb on the delivery side are formed of a strip of metal bent to shape, the lower portion 4 of the vertical limb on the delivery side being constituted by a stiff wire bent to elongated U-shape and having its limbs fixed at top to the upper portion 3 of the vertical limb of the frame on the delivery side. At a point in each of the vertical limbs of the rectangular frame of the tension compensator, near the top, a thread guide eye of glass, porcelain or other material is fixed in a hole cut to receive it, these guide eyes, thread guides A and C respectively, facing each other horizontally or approximately horizontally across the frame. At the foot of the frame on the delivery side a wire arm 5 is hinged on the bottom of the U-shaped wire 4' constituting the lower part of the vertical limb, and is formed with or carries a thread guide eye B at its other end. The hingedarm 5 is preferably (as shown) of such a lengththat when it is in a vertical po- I sition its thread guide 13 and thread guide C are in juxtaposition, and further the hinged arm 5 carries a weight 6 slidable along it and capable of being secured in any desired position thereon by a set screw 7 or other convenient means. A stop is shown as provided to prevent the thread guide B from falling belowa position horizontal with the pivot of the arm 5, such stop being shown as provided by bending the end of the wire of the arm 5 outwards as at 5 so that the outwardly bent portion 5 comes against the member 4 when the guide eye 13 falls to the horizontal position, and prevents the arm 5 from falling further. The compensator can be clamped to the desired part of the machine or apparatus on which it is used, for example a stocking knitting machine, by means of clamping plates 8, 8 and screws 9 with nuts 9 An upwardly facing thread guide eye D is shown as provided at bottom on the outer side of the vertical limb- 1 on the feed side of the frame; the bottom of limb 1 on this side being bent outwards and slotted to receive this guide eye.

The thread T passes up through thread guide D, thence through. thread guide A on the feed side and through thread guide B carried by the hinged arm 5 and through thread guide C on the delivery side. Any increase or decrease which occurs during working in the tension of the thread on the feed side will result respectively in a, lowering or raising of the hinged arm 5 with a consequent compensation in the tension on the delivery side. The tension on the delivery side may be varied to any desired value by adjusting the position of the slidable weight 6 thereon.

It will be understood that the particular form of device just described is given only by way of example and can be varied widely without departing from the invention.

Any or all of the thread guides before referred to of compensator devices according to the invention may, if desired, take the form of small pulley wheels, but preferably guide A does not take this form.

If desired the compensator, when in its position of minimum added tension i. e. when any further increase in the tension on the feed side will not be compensated, may be arranged to operate any suitable stop motion device, electrical or mechanical,

which will stop the operation in progress,

e. g. knitting, winding, etc.

As stated above, the device of the present invention is applicable to any branch. of the textile industries in which threads are required to be fed under a substantially constant tension.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A tension conpensating, device for use in textile operations in which threads are required to be fed at a substantially constant tension, said compensating device comprising members having two substantially fixed thread guides and an arm carrying a thread gulde and oscillatable about a point below the line joining the two substantially fixed thread guides, said substantially fixed thread guides being disposed respectively on the feed side andthe delivery side of the oscillating thread guide.

2 A tension compensating device as claimed in claim 1, comprising also a weight adjustable along the length of the oscillatable arm, and means for securing the weight in adjusted position.

3. A tension compensating device as claimed in claim 1, comprising also a thread guide so positioned below the thread guide on the feed side of the device that in operation the thread is led to the said thread guide on the feed side at a considerable angle to the horizontal.

4. A tension compensating device for use in textile operations in which threads are required to be fed at a substantially constant tension, said compensating device comprising members having two substantially fixed thread guides and an arm carrying a thread guide and oscillatable about a point below the line joining the two substantially fixed thread guides, said substantially fixed thread guides being disposed respectively on the feed side and the delivery side of the oscillatable thread guide, the shortest distance between the line joining the substantially fixed guides and the point about which the arm oscillates being at least equal to the length of the arm.

5. A tension compensating device for use in textile operations in which threads are required to be fed at a substantially constant tension, said device comprising two substantially fixed thread guides disposed on the feed and delivery sides respectively of the device, and an oscillatable arm carrying a thread guide and pivoted about a point substantially vertically below the substantially fixed thread guide on the delivery side of the device, the distance of the pivot from the said thread guide on the delivery side being at least equal to the length of the said oscillatable arm.

6. A tension compensating device for use in textile operations in which threads are required to be fed at a substantially constant tension, said compensating device com prising members having two substantially fixed thread guides, an arm carrying a thread guide and oscillatable about a point below the line joining the two substantially fixed thread guides, said substantially fixed thread guides being disposed respectively on the feed side and the delivery side of the oscillatable thread guide, the shortest distance between the line joining the substantially fixed guides and the point about which the arm oscillates being at least equal to the length of the arm, and means for limiting the downward movement of the oscillatable arm about its pivot.

7. A tension compensating device for use in textile operations in which threads are required to be fed at a substantially con stant tension, said device comprising two substantially fixed thread guides disposed,

on the feed and delivery sides respectively of the device, a thread guide so positioned below the thread guide on the feed side of the device that in operation the thread is led to the said thread guide on the feed side at a considerable angle to the horizontal, an oscillatable arm carrying a thread guide, means to limit the downward extent of the oscillation of the said arm, a pivot for the arm disposed substantially vertically below the thread guide on the delivery side of the device, the distance of the pivot from the said thread guide on the delivery side being at least equal to the length of the said arm, a weight adjustable alongthe length of the arm, and means for securing the weight in adjusted position.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names.

ELSIE MARY RYLEY,

Administmzfre'ae of the Estate of the said Charles Field R'yley, Deceased.

' HENRY EWING. 

